State agency agrees to settle lawsuit to protect solar warranties

March 5, 2026
  • In 2024, the Contractors State License Board (CSLB) voted to approve a new, utility-backed regulation that would have threatened the warranties on many solar and battery systems.
  • This new CSLB rule would have made it more difficult and expensive for consumers to install and repair solar-powered batteries.
  • Solar Rights Alliance joined a coalition of clean energy, consumer, solar industry, and environmental groups in a lawsuit against the CSLB’s rule.
  • Our coalition won an initial victory when a Superior Court judge agreed to halt enforcement of the new rule while the lawsuit proceeded.
  • Then, in February 2026, the CSLB signed a settlement with our coalition, agreeing to modify their rule in several ways that protect consumer solar warranties. 
  • The final step is for the CSLB to formally vote on these changes, which we expect to happen by 2027. 

What the CSLB did

  • In 2024, the Contractors State Licensing Board (CSLB) voted to prohibit licensed solar contractors from doing the following:
    • Adding a battery to a solar system they already installed.
    • Making repairs or modifications to an existing solar and storage system they already installed.
    • Installing a battery larger than 80 kWh.
  • Only licensed electricians would have been allowed to do the work above.
  • The CSLB approved this regulation despite opposition from solar users, solar installers, consumer advocates, and environmental groups.

Had this regulation gone into effect, many solar users would have been forced to do things that would have voided the warranty on their solar and/or battery systems

  • Many solar and battery systems are installed by licensed solar contractors rather than electricians. The solar contractor’s license is a specialty trade that has been around for over forty years in California. Licensed solar contractors train more extensively on battery installations than licensed electricians because it is such a core part of what they do.
  • If a solar user wants to add a battery to their existing solar system, or make repairs or modifications to their existing battery, they usually have the original solar installer do the work—or risk voiding their warranty.
  • Thus, the CSLB put the consumer in an impossible situation, in which the new regulation would force them to hire someone else to do the work, voiding their warranty in the process.
  • In addition, the CSLB regulation would have removed thousands of existing local solar companies and workers from the market, including very experienced battery installers. This would have limited choices for consumers and driven up the cost of getting solar and/or a battery.

Regulators did not provide evidence to support their decision

  • The CSLB itself found no evidence of a problem in the safety or quality of the work performed by licensed solar installers. CSLB’s 2019 report on this issue found the following:

“The CSLB has solicited but not received examples of workmanship, or serious injury or death that has resulted from installation of ESS paired with solar photovoltaics. As for its own records, the CSLB polled its enforcement field offices to determine if in the past calendar year, if any of the 21,301 complaints CSLB opened involved energy storage systems. The field offices reported zero results.” 

“The CSLB also received a report from the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health on the injuries reported over the last fiscal year in the Department of Industrial Relations’ electrical classification, and none of the reports identified accidents involving the installation of battery energy storage systems.” 

  • The CSLB also acknowledged that while both solar installers (C-46 license) and electricians (C-10 license) are qualified to install batteries, that solar installers train more extensively for battery installations than licensed electricians. The CSLB Licensing Committee meeting notes from February 23, 2018 state:

“The exams for both the C-10 (Electrical) and C-46 (Solar) include questions on energy storage systems. The C-46 exam covers the topic more extensively than does the C-10 exam, and every version of the C-46 exam contains questions on the topic, though not every version of the C-10 exam does. “ (p. 94)

  • If you want to see for yourself, here are CSLB’s study guide for the C46 and the C10 licenses.
  • Despite this, the CSLB, under pressure from the utilities, forged ahead with this decision in the name of safety.

The CSLB regulation smelled of utility influence

  • The CSLB does important work protecting consumers and maintaining contractor standards. However, this decision appeared to be more about helping the utilities limit access to rooftop solar and batteries, and not about protecting consumers.
  • In 2018, the utilities proposed that the CSLB revoke the ability for licensed solar contractors to install batteries, and that batteries be the exclusive jurisdiction of licensed electricians only.
  • The CSLB rejected that idea at the time, but have now passed this new regulation that is still unreasonable and unworkable for consumers.
  • The utilities’ likely objective is to use highly technical changes through a little-known government process to further hamper the rooftop solar and battery market.

The settlement agreement requires the CSLB to change their regulation and protect solar warranties

Hundreds of consumers sent in written public comments and attended CSLB meetings to oppose their proposal.

When the CSLB decided to pass this new rule anyway, Solar Rights Alliance joined a lawsuit to stop it. Our co-plaintiffs were the California Solar & Storage Association (CALSSA), Center for Biological Diversity, CA Public Interest Research Group, and Karin Poelstra, owner of a local solar company in San Diego. 

A Superior Court judge sided with us and agreed that the CSLB rule was likely to cause significant harm and that it probably violated the law. The judge granted a preliminary injunction, which means that the CSLB could not enforce the new rule until the lawsuit concludes.

After the judge ruled, our coalition began negotiating with CSLB. In February 2026, we reached a settlement agreement.

The settlement agreement will allow licensed solar contractors to do the following:

  • Install a battery up to 80 kWh for a new customer as part of a solar system.
  • Add a battery up to 80 kWh to an existing solar system that the contractor originally installed.
  • Perform maintenance on any battery the contractor installed.

These agreements protect consumer solar warranties, which was the goal of our lawsuit. However, there are two aspects of the settlement agreement that we do not like:

  • Licensed solar contractors are limited to working on battery systems of 80 kWh or less. This covers the vast majority of consumers. However, an increasing number of consumers are buying larger batteries, especially in the high desert regions of the state, those wanting to go off grid, or consumers who want complete whole-home backup. Those folks will have fewer and more expensive choices to get that work done.
  • Licensed solar contractors will not be allowed to add a battery to a solar system that the contractor did not install or do maintenance on a battery they did not install. Only licensed electricians will be allowed to do that work. If your solar company went bankrupt and you need work done on your system, you will only be able to use licensed electricians, which are fewer in number and tend to be more expensive. 

Next Steps

The final step is for the CSLB to formally vote on the changes in the settlement agreement, which we expect to happen by 2027. 

Additional Resources

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